ONCE UPON A STARRY NIGHT

This team of British astronomer and artist offer another winner in the stars-for-kids department. Mitton manages lucid and extremely brief stories of Orion, Hercules, Andromeda, and so on, and Balit illustrates them in rich velvet colors and often fanciful detail. Ophiuchus (Asclepius) wrestles a crested, scaled serpent; Orion bears a club and wears a lion skin. Silver foil highlights the stars of each constellation in the figures so they do indeed glow, and that adds to the splendid design. Endpapers diagram northern and southern skies with all the constellations. The text closes with brisk, clear definitions of some of the “night sky objects” discussed. Though the stories are extremely abbreviated, this is an attractive beginning. (Nonfiction. 5-9)